Do not feed the animals

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In the 1960s, US national parks began to discourage the feeding of bears, as reflected in this photograph from 1961, featuring Yogi Bear Yogi Bear with "don't feed the bears" message - NARA - 286013 (cropped).jpg
In the 1960s, US national parks began to discourage the feeding of bears, as reflected in this photograph from 1961, featuring Yogi Bear
Feral pigeons being fed in a public space Man feeding pigeons.jpg
Feral pigeons being fed in a public space
Where zoos permit visitors to feed animals, it is usually domestic animals such as sheep and goats, as in this French zoo Feeding goats (zoo d'Attilly).jpg
Where zoos permit visitors to feed animals, it is usually domestic animals such as sheep and goats, as in this French zoo
At Monkey Mia in Australia, dolphins are fed under ranger supervision Monkey Mia, Western Australia.jpg
At Monkey Mia in Australia, dolphins are fed under ranger supervision

The prohibition "do not feed the animals" reflects a policy forbidding the artificial feeding of wild or feral animals. Signs displaying this message are commonly found in zoos, circuses, animal theme parks, aquariums, national parks, parks, public spaces, farms, and other places where people come into contact with wildlife. [4] [5] [6] In some cases there are laws to enforce such no-feeding policies. [7] [8]

Contents

Feeding wild animals can significantly change their behavior. Feeding or leaving unattended food to large animals, such as bears, can lead them to aggressively seek out food from people, sometimes resulting in injury. [9] Feeding can also alter animal behavior so that animals routinely travel in larger groups, which can make disease transmission between animals more likely. [10] In public spaces, the congregation of animals caused by feeding can result in them being considered pests. [11] In zoos, giving food to the animals is discouraged due to the strict dietary controls in place. [5] More generally, artificial feeding can result in, for example, vitamin deficiencies [12] and dietary mineral deficiencies. [13] Outside zoos, a concern is that the increase in local concentrated wildlife population due to artificial feeding can promote the transfer of disease among animals or between animals and humans. [12] [14]

Zoos

Zoos generally discourage visitors from giving any food to the animals. [5] Some zoos, particularly petting zoos, do the opposite and actively encourage people to get involved with the feeding of the animals. [17] This, however, is strictly monitored and usually involves set food available from the zookeepers or vending machines, as well as a careful choice of which animals to feed, and the provision of hand-washing facilities to avoid spreading disease. [2] Domestic animals such as sheep and goats are often permitted to be fed, [2] as are giraffes. [17]

National and state parks

In national parks and state parks, feeding animals can result in malnourishment due to inappropriate diet and in disruption of natural hunting or food-gathering behavior. It can also be dangerous to the people doing the feeding. [18]

In the US, early 20th century park management actually encouraged animal feeding. For example, "the feeding of squirrels had been seen as a way to civilize the parks and rechannel the energies of young boys from aggression and vandalism toward compassion and charity." [19] Park rangers once fed bears in front of crowds of tourists. [20] However, with a greater awareness of ecological and other issues, such pro-feeding policies are now viewed as detrimental, [1] [19] [20] [21] and US national parks now actively discourage animal feeding. [22]

In Canadian national parks, it is illegal to disturb or feed wildlife, [23] and Parks Canada advises visitors not to leave out "food attractants" such as dirty dishes. [24] Ironically, the "it is unlawful to feed animals" signs may themselves become food attractants for porcupines. [25] Road salt and roadkill may also act as food attractants, and removing roadkill is considered good park management. [26]

Marine parks

Tourism operators often provide food to attract marine wildlife such as sharks to areas where they can be more easily viewed. Such a practice is controversial, however, because it can create a dependency on artificial feeding, habituate animals to feeding locations, increase inter-species and intra-species aggression, and increase the spread of disease. [27] In Australia's Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, shark feeding is prohibited. [28] In Hawaiian waters, shark feeding is permitted only in connection with traditional Hawaiian cultural or religious activities. [29]

The feeding of wild dolphins for tourist purposes is also controversial, and is prohibited in the US because it can alter natural hunting behaviour, disrupt social interaction, encourage the dolphins to approach or ingest dangerous objects, and endanger the person doing the feeding. [30] [31] At Monkey Mia in Western Australia, dolphin feeding is permitted under Department of Environment and Conservation supervision. [3]

Backyards

Similar issues to those in national and state parks also apply in suburban and rural backyards. Artificial feeding of coyotes, deer, and other wildlife is discouraged. [9] [15] [32] Feeding deer, for example, may contribute to the spread of bovine tuberculosis. [13] The feeding of birds with bird feeders is an exception, at least in the US, even though it can sometimes contribute to spreading disease. [32] [33] [34] In Australia, artificial bird feeding is viewed more negatively. [12] Instead, growing native plants that can act as a natural food source for birds is recommended. [12] Similar suggestions have been made in the US. [13]

Public spaces

Feral pigeons are often found in urban public spaces. They are often considered environmental pests, and can transmit diseases such as psittacosis. [11] Deliberate feeding of feral pigeons, though popular, contributes to these problems. [11]

Ducks are also commonly fed in public spaces. In an early 1970s US study, 67% of people visiting urban parks did so to feed ducks. [35] However, such feeding may contribute to water pollution and to over-population of the birds, as well as delaying winter migration to an extent that may be dangerous for the birds. [16] Feeding foods such as white bread to ducks and geese can result in bone deformities. [13] Like pigeons, ducks may also congregate in large numbers where feeding takes place, resulting in aggression towards humans who don't have food to hand as well as towards other individuals in the group. Ducks can also be messy animals, and the cleanup of an area where they congregate is time consuming.

Traditions of feeding the animals

Some people oppose such laws claiming that animals such as pigeons can be an amenity for people who do not have company such as friends or family, and say that the laws prohibiting feeding animals in urban places must change. [36] In some countries, such as Greece, feeding the pigeons in cities is a widespread practice. [37] Cultural hostility to feeding animals in cities and laws that ban the practice raise concerns about how humans relate to other living beings in the urban environment. [38] In some areas, feeding animals in a sustainable manner has been encouraged, as without supplementation of food from humans in addition to their natural supply, some animals, especially waterfowl such as ducks, geese and swans, have become malnourished and underweight. [39] [40]

Politicians have also protested laws that ban feeding feral pigeons in cities. [38] Feral pigeons in cities existed for thousands of years but only recently in some countries humans started seeing them as a nuisance and became hostile to them. [41] In India, feeding feral animals in cities is considered a noble act. [42] Academicians say that how humans treat animals is related to how humans treat each other and thus raise concerns about the cultural shift from seeing feral city pigeons as harmless in the 1800s to seeing them an undesirable in some countries in the 2000s. [41]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Poultry</span> Domesticated birds kept by humans for their eggs, meat, or feathers

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of harvesting useful animal products such as meat, eggs or feathers. The practice of raising poultry is known as poultry farming. These birds are most typically members of the superorder Galloanserae (fowl), especially the order Galliformes. The term also includes waterfowls of the family Anatidae and other flying birds that are kept and killed for their meat such as the young pigeons, but does not include wild birds hunted for food known as game or quarry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bird feeding</span> The activity of feeding wild birds

Bird feeding is the activity of feeding wild birds, often by means of bird feeders. With a recorded history dating to the 6th century, the feeding of wild birds has been encouraged and celebrated in the United States and United Kingdom, with it being the United States' second most popular hobby having National Bird-Feeding Month congressionally decreed in 1994. Various types of food are provided by various methods; certain combinations of food and method of feeding are known to attract certain bird species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock dove</span> Species of bird

The rock dove, rock pigeon, or common pigeon is a member of the bird family Columbidae. In common usage, it is often simply referred to as the "pigeon", although this is the wild form of the bird; the pigeons most familiar to people are the domesticated form of the wild rock dove.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feral pigeon</span> Domestic pigeons returned to the wild

Feral pigeons, also called city doves, city pigeons, or street pigeons, are descendants of domestic pigeons that have returned to the wild. The domestic pigeon was originally bred from the wild rock dove, which naturally inhabits sea-cliffs and mountains. Rock, domestic, and feral pigeons are all the same species and will readily interbreed. Feral pigeons find the ledges of buildings to be a substitute for sea cliffs, have become adapted to urban life, and are abundant in towns and cities throughout much of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mallard</span> Species of duck

The mallard or wild duck is a dabbling duck that breeds throughout the temperate and subtropical Americas, Eurasia, and North Africa. It has been introduced to New Zealand, Australia, Peru, Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, the Falkland Islands, and South Africa. This duck belongs to the subfamily Anatinae of the waterfowl family Anatidae. Males have green heads, while the females have mainly brown-speckled plumage. Both sexes have an area of white-bordered black or iridescent purple or blue feathers called a speculum on their wings; males especially tend to have blue speculum feathers. The mallard is 50–65 cm (20–26 in) long, of which the body makes up around two-thirds the length. The wingspan is 81–98 cm (32–39 in) and the bill is 4.4 to 6.1 cm long. It is often slightly heavier than most other dabbling ducks, weighing 0.7–1.6 kg (1.5–3.5 lb). Mallards live in wetlands, eat water plants and small animals, and are social animals preferring to congregate in groups or flocks of varying sizes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wood duck</span> Species of bird

The wood duck or Carolina duck is a species of perching duck found in North America. The drake wood duck is one of the most colorful North American waterfowls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feral</span> Wild-living but normally domestic animal or plant

A feral animal or plant is one that lives in the wild but is descended from domesticated individuals. As with an introduced species, the introduction of feral animals or plants to non-native regions may disrupt ecosystems and has, in some cases, contributed to extinction of indigenous species. The removal of feral species is a major focus of island restoration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California condor</span> Large New World vulture, North America

The California condor is a New World vulture and the largest North American land bird. It became extinct in the wild in 1987 when all remaining wild individuals were captured, but has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah, the coastal mountains of California, and northern Baja California in Mexico. It is the only surviving member of the genus Gymnogyps, although four extinct members of the genus are also known. The species is listed by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as Critically Endangered, and similarly considered Critically Imperiled by NatureServe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Diego Zoo</span> Zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, United States

The San Diego Zoo is a zoo in Balboa Park, San Diego, California, housing 4,000 animals of more than 650 species and subspecies on 100 acres (40 ha) of Balboa Park leased from the City of San Diego. Its parent organization, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, is a private nonprofit conservation organization, and has one of the largest zoological membership associations in the world, with more than 250,000 member households and 130,000 child memberships, representing more than a half million people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muscovy duck</span> Species of bird

The Muscovy duck is a duck native to the Americas, from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and Mexico south to Argentina and Uruguay. Feral Muscovy ducks are found in New Zealand, Australia, and in Central and Eastern Europe. Small wild and feral breeding populations have also established themselves in the United States, particularly in Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, the Big Island of Hawaii, as well as in many other parts of North America, including southern Canada.

Trap–neuter–return (TNR), also known as trap–neuter–release, is a controversial method that attempts to manage populations of feral cats. The process involves live-trapping the cats, having them neutered, ear-tipped for identification, and, if possible, vaccinated, then releasing them back into the outdoors. If the location is deemed unsafe or otherwise inappropriate, the cats may be relocated to other appropriate areas. Ideally, friendly adults and kittens young enough to be easily socialized are retained and placed for adoption. Feral cats cannot be socialized, shun most human interaction and do not fare well in confinement, so they are not retained. Cats suffering from severe medical problems such as terminal, contagious, or untreatable illnesses or injuries are often euthanized.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feral pig</span> Any type of feral domesticated pig, wild boar, or hybrid

A feral pig is a domestic pig which has gone feral, meaning it lives in the wild. The term feral pig has also been applied to wild boars, which can interbreed with domestic pigs. They are found mostly in the Americas and Australia. Razorback and wild hog are Americanisms applied to feral pigs or boar–pig hybrids.

Wildlife contraceptives are contraceptives used to regulate the fertility of wild animals. They are used to control population growth of certain wild animals.

Varmint hunting or varminting is the practice of hunting vermin — generally small/medium-sized wild mammals or birds — as a means of pest control, rather than as games for food or trophy. The targeted animals are culled because they are considered economically harmful pests to agricultural crops, livestocks or properties; pathogen-carrying hosts/vectors that transmit cross-species/zoonotic diseases; or for population control as a mean of protecting other vulnerable species and ecosystems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Semi-feral</span> Animal that lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans

A semi-feral animal lives predominantly in a feral state but has some contact and experience with humans. This may be because it was born in a domesticated state and then reverted to life in wild conditions, or it may be an animal that grew up in essentially wild conditions but has developed a comfort level with humans through feeding, receiving medical care, or similar contacts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zoo</span> Collection of wild animals

A zoo is a facility in which animals are kept within enclosures for public exhibition and often bred for conservation purposes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urban wildlife</span> Wildlife that can live or thrive in urban environments

Urban wildlife is wildlife that can live or thrive in urban/suburban environments or around densely populated human settlements such as townships.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fauna of Wales</span> Animals living in Wales

Fauna of Wales includes marine and land animals, birds and reptiles that are resident, visitors or have been introduced to Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amirthi Zoological Park</span> Zoo in Tamil Nadu, India

Amirthi Zoological Park is a zoo in Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was opened in 1967 and is about 25 kilometres (16 mi) from the Vellore city. The area of the park is 25 hectares and one can find beautiful water falls.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat predation on wildlife</span> Interspecies animal behavior

Cat predation on wildlife is the result of the natural instincts and behavior of both feral and owned house cats to hunt small prey, including wildlife. Some people view this as a desirable phenomenon, such as in the case of barn cats and other cats kept for the intended purpose of pest control; but scientific evidence does not support the popular use of cats to control urban rat populations, and ecologists oppose their use for this purpose because of the disproportionate harm they do to native wildlife. As an invasive species and predator, they do considerable ecological damage.

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